


Nine

by idrilhadhafang



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Ben Goes To The Academy, Canon Compliant, Childhood Friends, Childhood Trauma, Other, Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Young Ben Solo, Young Poe Dameron
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:22:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24005809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: Ben and Poe, the day Ben left for Luke’s Academy.
Relationships: Poe Dameron & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 3
Kudos: 6
Collections: Gen Prompt Bingo Round 18





	Nine

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Vignette
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

It was when Poe was nine years old that Ben was all but torn away from him.   
  
Nine years old. Adult Poe would look back on it and reflect on how unfair everything was, that Ben was just _taken_ from him like that. Nine. It was something normal and abnormal at the same time.   
  
“It won’t be so bad,” Poe tried to comfort his friend. “I mean, you’ll be training with Uncle Luke! It won’t be that bad, will it?” Even speaking, though, he wasn’t sure if he believed those words. He was trying to comfort Ben, because that was what Ben would have done for him if their places were exchanged. If he was being sent away, and Ben had to stay behind.   
  
“I d-don’t want to go!” Ben sobbed into Poe’s shirt. Poe held onto him, like clinging to him would shelter him from everything that was to come. Like he could shield Ben a little while longer from the worst of what the galaxy had to offer. “I want you to come with me...”  
  
“I know.” Poe hugged him again. “I want that too, Ben. I want that with all my heart.”  
  
“I won’t know anyone there,” Ben said, sounding a little more subdued in that moment. “I won’t know anyone there, and I won’t fit in, and I won’t be able to protect you...”  
  
“You don’t have to protect me.”  
  
“Of course I do.” Ben looked up, smiling feebly through his tears. “I’m the Jedi. Jedi protect people. Including their fellow Jedi.” A beat. “I wish that you could be a Jedi with me. It’s unfair that the Force can’t be for everybody.”  
  
“I can still help,” Poe said. “Even if I can’t train with you.” He grinned. "And when I’m big enough, and you’re big enough, we can have adventures together!”  
  
Ben sniffled. “I’d like that a lot.” A beat. “We’re always gonna be friends, right?”  
  
“Of course we are!” Poe said. “From the start.”  
  
Ben beamed. Even though Ben had to leave soon, get on one of the private ships that Senator Organa had lent out to fly Ben to the Academy with Luke, Poe could at least treasure Ben’s smile there. Those feelings, those feelings of protectiveness and devotion — Poe wondered if that was what it was like when Mama was still alive, and she and Papa had loved each other. Maybe he was too little for these emotions. Only nine. But he knew that he’d do anything for Ben — even stop time for a little while longer.   
  
“I’ll keep in touch,” Ben said.   
  
“So will I.”  
  
Poe couldn’t shake the feeling, though, even as Ben climbed onboard with Luke Skywalker, that something was taking Ben from him. Would Ben still like him, even when Ben was a powerful Jedi and Poe was nothing?  
  
He hoped. Even when Ben was somebody, more than somebody, that Poe was still somebody to him too.


End file.
